Sex.Love.Power.: Sacred Sexuality, Conscious Polarity, and Waking Up In Love
Our pleasure can be the fuel for abundant, sustainable work, service, and play throughout our long lives.
Our sexuality can be a wholesome pillar of our daily experience.
Our marriages can be fueled by desire rather than duty.
Monogamy can be the hottest place on earth.
It’s a confusing time to be a heterosexual, monogamous couple. The love and passion you desire may be more an inner urge than something you really see people around you living. But there are a growing community of devoted couples creating monogamy as a conscious spiritual crucible. There are couples using their marriages to fuel their leadership and service and activism. Welcome to Sex. Love. Power. where we convene the conversations that unlock new possibilities in your life and relationship. I’m your host Michele Lisenbury Christensen. Over the past 26 years, I’ve helped thousands of couples create the love and sex they desire. Kurt and I, in 23 years of marriage and adventures together before that, have suffered, avoided, dared, and triumphed in countless ways. Now, I’m here to help you get more peace, more connection, and more passion in your days and nights, so you’ve got the energy and attention left over to be the change you wish to see in the wider world. Everything you want in love and sex and beyond starts with YOU, and it starts right now. Let’s tend your flame.
Sex.Love.Power.: Sacred Sexuality, Conscious Polarity, and Waking Up In Love
Gaslighting "Lite" in Otherwise Good Marriages
The term “gaslighting” has become a buzzword in recent years and, because of its widespread use, the meaning of this term has become a bit murky. In a nutshell, gaslighting is when you are experiencing something and endeavoring to talk to the other person about it, but they flip it around on you so that you wind up questioning yourself, your own character, motivations, and even grip on reality. Today, I want to talk about what I call “gaslighting lite” or the ways that understanding the gaslight effect can help you navigate when gaslighting behaviors show up in your otherwise healthy relationship.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Common areas in which many, many people gaslight our partners or other people in our lives
- Why gaslighting shows up in otherwise healthy relationships
- How you may be unconsciously participating in this pattern
- How you can extricate yourself from this painful cycle, whichever side of it you are on and turn past gaslighting lite into relationship gold
And more.
Join the conversation by listening, then share your story or response on our voicemail at 206-659-9865 or inside our free Conscious Couples' Circle on Mighty Networks.
“Subconscious parts of us react in a knee-jerk fashion that might be out of character for us, might almost be like a different person's behavior, and that subconscious part does that in order to protect the blind spot.”
-Michele Lisenbury Christensen
Hot Moments in This Episode:
- How I’ve participated in “gaslighting lite” and how I intervened [13:48]
- The way you or your partner is acting like a 15-year-old [16:28]
- What can happen when you start calling out these behaviors [17:52]
I hope that this episode gives you a starting place to begin to unravel this gaslighting lite cycle and illuminate the blind spots that will turn into areas of new life for you and your partner.
RESOURCES OR LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
We Can Do Hard Things Podcast: Are You Being Gaslighted?
The Gaslight Effect by Dr. Robin Stern
The Gaslight Effect Recovery Guide by Dr. Robin Stern
What is DARVO? by Dr. Jennifer J. Freyd
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